YOUR FIRST 10 SHOT CARD

Shooting accurately and consistently requires knowledge, practice and skill.
It is not unusual for first time shooters to have problems hitting the target they are aiming at, let alone hitting the bulls eye!

Here are some basic tips to help you through your first 10 shot card at the range.

An experienced shooter will coach you while you learn the basics of small-bore rifle shooting.

Before shooting your first 10 shot card, you will be given rifle safety and range safety instruction. Once that is complete, your coach will set you up with an appropriate rifle and other shooting equipment, and provide instruction on how the rifle works.

In addition your coach may get you to shoot at a single target before moving you onto a 10 shot card. A new target card will be set up for you at the end of the range, which is 25 meters from the mound the you will be shooting from.

You will have 13 bullets.  The first three are sighters, used to sight your rifle in.  The sighters are aimed at the middle target, shown in yellow in the diagram below.  Your coach will help you sight your rifle in. The remaining 10 bullets are aimed at the remaining 10 targets, one per target, shown in white in the target card below.  These 10 bullets count towards your final score, whereas the sighters are not scored.

In competitive shooting there is a time limit to shoot your sighters and 10 counting shots.  You should not be concerned about the time limit while you are learning to shoot, instead take you coaches instruction.

There are basically only two things you are trying to achieve when firing a rifle.

• Line the rifle up with in a straight line between your eye and the target you are aiming out.  To help you do that, there is a front sight and back sight on the rifle.  See below for further details.
• Provide a steady platform for the rifle so that there is as little movement of the rifle during the shooting process, namely sighting the rifle, pulling the trigger and just after pulling the trigger.

To shoot well and consistently, you need to line the rifle up and provide a steady platform the same way each time you shoot.

Lining your rifle up.Your coach will help you find a comfortable and stable shooting position.  Small-bore is shoot while lying on the ground, for maximum stability.

Only one eye is used to aim the rifle.  It is often helpful to use a blind attached to your rifle to stop your other eye from seeing the target.  This is especially useful for novice shooters.

The important point to note is that you are trying to centre the front sight within the back sight.  This is  step 1 of sighting in the target.  Once the front sight is centred within the back sight, your eye is also centred in the back sight.  To achieve this you will need to focus your eye on the front and back sight rather than the target.

Step 2 is while keeping the front sight centred in the back sight, you want to centre the target (yellow) in the front sight (blue).  To achieve this you need to focus your eye on the front sight and target.